George M. Korres

Sources of structural change: an input-output decomposition analysis for Greece

Technical change greatly contributes to the explanation of economic structural changes. The aim of this paper is to measure the extension and the direction of structural and technological change. The impact of structural and technological changes on sectoral gross output was computed by breaking down the total change into the part due to changes in input-output coefficients (technological change) and the part due to changes and composition of final demand. The decomposition of structural change is based on the following questions. What were the engines of growth? What was the role and impact of technological change and which economies experienced the most and least structural change?

Adoption of Technology and Regional Convergence in Europe

Adoption of Technology and Regional Convergence in Europe This paper examines the pattern of convergence in labour productivity across regions due to their ability to adopt technology. Whether regions exhibit a pattern of convergence depends on the degree to which infrastructure conditions are appropriate for the adoption of technological improvements. The ability of a region to adopt or create technology is reflected in the percentage of its labour force employed in technologically dynamic sectors or, more generally, in the resources devoted to science and technology. A high percentage of labour employed in technologically advanced sectors leads a region to a pattern of convergence. This hypothesis is tested using data for the NUTS-2 regions of the EU-27 during the time period 1995-2006. The results suggest that adoption of technology has a significant and positive effect on regional convergence in Europe. The analysis is also shown to have important implications for the direction of regional policy in Europe. To be more specific, regional policies, in order to enhance regional growth and convergence, should encourage employment in advanced technological sectors.

Regionalisation, growth, and economic integration

Macroeconomic Issues of Regional Growth and Economic Integration.- Economic Integration and Labour Markets: Ways Forward.- An Assessment of the Integration of Eastern European Economies in the European Union.- Looking at the Monetary Integration: Modeling Interest Rate Transmission Dynamics in Greece. Is There any Structural Break After EMU?.- How Harmful is International Tax Competition?.- Microeconomic Issues of Regional Growth and Economic Integration.- Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Exchange Rate Uncertainty in Imperfectly Competitive Industries.- Foreign Direct Investment: Explaining the Regional Location Determinants in South-Eastern European Countries.- Starting with the Local - a Knowledge-Based Approach to Economic Integration.- Policies and Institutions of Regional Integration.- Education, Research and Regional Economic Disparities in the European Union After 2004 Enlargement: Econometric Models and Policy Challenges.- European Regional Convergence: Some Evidence for the Role of Information Communication Technologies.- Regional Disparities and the Effects of Innovation Activities on Regional Integration.- Challenges and Prospects for an Integrated Europe.- Research and Technological Development Policy and Innovative Performance: The Greek Case Within the EU.- Financial Autonomy of Local Governments: Case Studies of Finland and Poland.- From Closed to Open Regionalism in Central America: a Preliminary Assessment of the Proposed Belize-Guatemala Free Trade Agreement.- Aspects of Regional Social Governance. Welfare Reform in the US Implications for a Global Policy Against Exclusion.

Innovation Geography and Regional Growth in European Union

There is a huge literature regarding the main determinants and sources of economic growth. Most of the recent work emphasizes on the role of knowledge and innovation activities typically produced by a specific sector of the economy, and on analyzing the implications and the importance for economic growth. Moreover, the socioeconomic and public policies aim to distinguish the determining factors of growth to enhance the regional cohesion and the convergence process. Much of the recent work on regional growth can be viewed as refining the basic economic insights of economic geography. This article attempts to analyze the European systems of innovation and the effects of European technological policy to regional growth.

The Role of Technical Change and Diffusion in the Schumpeterian Lines

The importance of diffusion of technology for economic growth has been emphasised by economic literature. Much of the recent work on economic growth can be viewed as refining the basic economic insights of classical economists. The recent debate on the determinants of output growth has concentrated mainly on the role of knowledge, typically produced by a specific sector of the economy. This paper attempts to examine the role of diffusion and technical change (research and development) on output growth according to Schumpeterian lines. Following on the Schumpeterian tradition, this paper starts from the recognition that there are two main patterns of innovations: the first one is the creative destruction pattern and the second one is a creative accumulation pattern. Also, it emphasizes the role and the impact of the diffusion of technology in the inter-country and international economic contexts. Finally, it attempts to analyze the empirical implementation of the diffusion models through epidemic, probit analysis and technological substitution models.

The Innovation Union in Europe

One of the most important economic events in recent decades has been the ongoing process of European integration. This book provides a basic yet rigorous understanding of the current issues and problems of economic integration and innovation in Europe, and argues that national or regional economic development depends mainly on technical change, social and human capital, and knowledge creation and diffusion. This is clearly evident in the role of the quadruple innovation helix of government, university, industry and civil society.In this paper we quantitatively review the empirical literature on spatial knowl¬edge spillovers in Europe by means of meta-analysis to determine the extent to which such spillovers have been empirically documented as well as the spatial reach of these spillovers. In addition, we will apply meta-regression analysis to analyze the determinants of observed heterogeneity across and between publications. To our knowledge this is the first study of its kind. Our results show that if total local R&D expenditure in a European region increases by 1%, then the number of patents in that region, on average, increases by about 0.5%. Spatial knowledge spillovers induce a positive effect on local knowledge production, however, this effect proves to be small around 0.07%. Spatial weighting regime seems to matter. If R&D expenditures in other regions are weighted by distance in kilometers or minutes (instead of a binary contiguity matrix) then the spillover effect on average will be larger. Also, public R&D expenditure is found to have a lower impact on local patent production compared to the private R&D expenditure.

THE ROLE OF TOURISM IN EUROPEAN REGIONAL GROWTH

AbstractNowadays the world tourism represents one of the industrial areas with the highest development potential and always in expansion. With its variety of attractions and quality of its tourism services, Europe is the world leading tourist destination: so tourism is an activity which can play an important role in the attainment of the Growth and Jobs Strategy goals. In fact in the European Union about 5% of the GDP and of total occupation rate comes from tourism and currently 8 millions of people result to be directly employed in this sector. However these esteems grow if considering all the economy linked to tourism: the European Unions travel and tourism economy is expected to account for 10,9% of GDP and 25,7 millions of workplaces (11,8% of total employment) in 2007. Greece attracts well over 16 million tourists a year contributing 15% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the nations Economy. The country has been an attraction for international visitors since antiquity for its rich and long history and more recently for its glorious Mediterranean coastline and beaches. In 2005, 6,088,287 tourists visited only the city of Athens, the capital city. In 2004, the country welcomed over 16.5 million tourists. At the same time, tourism consumption increased considerably since the turn of the millennium, from US

Looking at the Knowledge Economy: Some Issues on Theory and Evidence

17.7 bn. in 2000 to US

Industrial and Innovation Policy in Europe: The Effects on Growth and Sustainability

29.6 bn. in 2004. The number of jobs directly or indirectly related to the tourism sector were 659,719 and represented 16.5% of the countrys total employment for that year. This article focuses in the fields of tourism and regional growth in Europe. Moreover, it attempts to analyze the evaluation of tourism and industrial sectors in European Union. It combines both a theoretical and an empirical background. It also investigates and attempts to explain the role and socio-economic effects of tourism activities in the convergence and divergence process of European regions (in an attempt to interpret the so-called Dutch Disease phenomenon).

Technological Change, Productivity and Economic Integration of the European Union

Innovation activities contribute essentially to the regional dimension and growth. The technological infrastructure and innovation capabilities affect not only the regional growth, but also the whole periphery and economy as well. In the last decades, OECD /introduced some measures and indexes, concerning the Research and Development Expenditures, patents etc., that measuring the innovation activities. However, there are a lot of problems and questions regarding the measurement of innovation activities at a regional level. This paper attempts to analyze the whole framework of innovation statistics and in particular to examine the measurement and also the statistical estimation of innovation activities. On this context, it’s also aiming to emphasize and to review the appropriate techniques, the most common methods and the particular problems.